Technical Field
This invention relates generally to powered, wheeled vehicles. More particularly, this invention relates to a method and apparatus for adjusting the mower deck on a mower. Specifically, this invention is directed to method and apparatus for hydraulically or manually adjusting the position of a mower deck on a zero-turn mower that also includes a mounting assembly for engaging an attachment to the mower in a position forward of the operator.
Background Information
Landscapers and other contractors utilize wheeled vehicles to aid them in performing various landscaping tasks. It is known to secure attachments to such vehicles. For instance, it is known to engage towable carts to a rear end of a landscaping vehicle's frame. It is also known in other instances to secure attachments such as grader blades or rotatable brushes to a front end of the vehicle.
It would be desirable for an operator to be able to secure a wider variety of different attachments to these vehicles. Attachments such as hoppers, mulching assemblies, edgers, aerators, leaf blowers, leaf vacuums/collectors, snowplow blades or snow blowers would all be useful to an operator. The problem is that while operators may desire to secure any and all of these devices to the front ends of their vehicles, all of these attachments are configured differently and typically require completely different connectors to attach them to the vehicle's frame. Because of this, operators have to be highly selective as to which attachments would be most useful to them and then install only the specific connector components necessary for securing those particular attachments to the frame.
One of the additional problems with these types of vehicles is that during mowing operations it sometimes is necessary to adjust the height of the mower deck in order to cut grass of different lengths. The way this is typically accomplished is by the operator getting off the vehicle and then manually adjusting the mower deck position relative to the wheels and/or frame of the mower.